SENSE, REFERENCE, & CATS | FREGE/RUSSELL DEBATE

When it comes to language, how does it relate to reality? Signs, sense, reference, definite descriptions or denoting phrases, definite & indefinite articles. How do we understand the sense & reference of fictional objects? What objects do their names refer to, and what type of reality do they have? How is it possible to refer to something that doesn’t exist? What kind of sense could a definite description like “the present emperor of CHINA” have since there is no denotation for “the present emperor of CHINA?” Are statements about non-existent entities true or false? How does our sense of the way language relates to reality change when we speak of the unreal? So, is sense superfluous as Russell says? Or, can sense be rescued beyond the shackles of the nominatum? This video will explore all of these concepts and is itself a sign referring to the famous Frege/Russell debate about Sense & Reference.

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PHILOSOPHY

Works Cited:

Frege, Gottlob. “On Sense and Nominatum (1892).” The Philosophy of Language, edited by Aloysius Martinich, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 190–202. Buy here:!

Russell, Bertrand. “On Denoting (1905).” The Philosophy of Language, edited by Aloysius Martinich, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 203–211. Buy here:!

Russell, Bertrand. “Descriptions (1919).” The Philosophy of Language, edited by Aloysius Martinich, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 212–218. Buy here:!

Strawson, P.F. “On Referring (1950).” The Philosophy of Language, edited by Aloysius Martinich, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 219–234. Buy here:!

Farmer, Philip Jose. Riders of the Purple Wage. Buy here!

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